Container for marine motor

ABSTRACT

Disclosed is a container assembly in which an outer container has its opposed sidewalls provided with rectangular reinforcing panels, the panels, themselves having reinforcing members spanning the panel width. The reinforcing members support a transverse beam on which a marine outboard motor is suspended by its mounting clamp. A transverse wedge-shaped member extends between the reinforcing members and engages the skeg portion of the marine motor.

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[56] References (Iited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,317,034 5/1967 Bowles et al 206/46 M 3,006,462 10/1961 Boeye et al. 206/46 M 2,843,258 7/1958 Boeye 206/46 M 2,791,322 5/1957 Boeye 206/46 M Primary Examiner-Leonard Summer Attorney-Woodard, Weikart, Emhardt & Naughton ABSTRACT: Disclosed is a container assembly in which an outer container has its opposed sidewalls provided with rectangular reinforcing panels, the panels, themselves having reinforcing members spanning the panel width. The reinforcing members support a transverse beam on which a marine outboard motor is suspended by its mounting clamp. A transverse wedge-shaped member extends betwe. n the reinforcing members and engages the skeg portion of the marine motor.

PATENTEBAUBZMQ?! 3,601,251

SHEET 1 OF 2 52 Jon M. SCHWANEK BY MAMA mm W i WWW ATTORNEYS PATENTED AUG24|971 SHEET 2 BF 2 INVENTOR Jon. M. ScuwAuExz \mmxms 3M mmat :Mm

ATTORNEYS CONTAINER IFOR MARINE MOTOR BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Outboard-type marine motors, because of their shape and weight, are relatively difficult to package for transport and storage. Various specialized containers for outboard motors are disclosed in the prior art and typical of these structures are the disclosures of US. Pat. Nos. 3,317,034 and 2,791,322.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a container embodying the present invention, the top flaps being laid open and shown fragmentarily only.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the container of FIG. 1 but showing the auxiliary container removed from the assembly.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the container shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 prior to folding inwardly of portions of the side support members.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the side support members and the transverse members, illustrating the suspension of a marine motor between the side support members and with the outer container removed.

FIG. 5 is a top plan view of the blank from which two duplicate portions of certain reinforcing elements are formed.

FIG. 6 is a top plan view of the blank from which the side support members are formed.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of one of the reinforcing members formed from the components shown in FIG. 5.

FIG. 8 is a side view of a side support member formed from the blank shown in FIGS. 6 and 7.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of the skeg support member forming a component of the container assembly.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring initially to FIG. 1, the container assembly embodying the present invention includes an outer container having end walls 10 and 11 and sidewalls l2 and 13. The outer container may be a conventional type having closed lower flaps (not shown) and upper flaps 10a, 11a, 12a and 13a respectively.

Within the outer container, are identical side support members indicated generally at 14 and 16, the side support members completely overlying the two opposite interior sidewall faces of the outer container. An auxiliary rectangular container 17 rests upon two inwardly folded, overlapping portions 18 and 19 of the support members 14 and 16, the flaps 18 and 19 appearing in FIG. 2 in which the assembly is shown with the auxiliary container 17 removed. Auxiliary corner stiffening members, taking the form of corrugated board folded into a U-shaped configuration in cross section are shown at 21, these auxiliary reinforcing members extending only to engagement with the reinforcing members within the side members 14 and 16 which will subsequently be described. As will be evident from FIGS. 3 and 4 an outboard, marine motor is suspended within the container and between the side members 16 and 14, the motor having a body portion 22 and a skeg portion 23. The motor is secured between the side members by tightening its clamp to a beam 24.

The skeg portion 23 of the motor is supported in a notch 26 (FIG. 9) in a wedgeshaped skeg support member 27. As may best be seen in FIG. 9, the skeg support member may be made by folding upon itself a sheet of corrugated board so as to provide the support member with a narrow side marginal portion 27a and a wide marginal portion 27b. The sheet from which the skeg support member is folded may be provided with registering apertures 29 which provide an indentation into which the tips of the propeller blades of the motor may rest when the motor is in place in the container. As will be evident from FIG. 9 the end margins of the member 27 are formed with a protruding portion 270 at each end of the member, these portions serving as tabs which extend into slots in the opposed side members 14 and 16, the slots being specifically identified at 31 and 32 in FIG. 6.

Referring specifically to FIG. 6, the blank from which the side support members each is formed comprises a central panel 33 and panels 34 and 36 which are joined to the central panel 33 at spaced score lines 37 and 38. The blank is cut away, rectangularly, as indicated at 39, and the generally tapered slot 32 is formed by cutting and scoring flaps 32a which terminate at an aperture 32b. The panel 34 is provided with a rectangular aperture 41 and the space between the score lines 37 is provided with a similar rectangular aperture 42. An aperture 43 extends between the score lines 38 and the panel 36 is provided with an aperture 44, all of the apertures 41, 42, 43 and 44 being aligned horizontally. The panel 36 is cut as indicated at 46 and 47 and these cuts terminate at a score line 48 which thus define a tab 18 when this portion is folded along the score line 48. The margin of the panel 36 also has a wedge-shaped slot 31 which has been previously mentioned.

The blank just described is formed into the side member 16 (it being understood that an identical blank is utilized to form the side member 14) by folding upon itself along the score lines 37 and 38. When thus folded, the apertures 42 and 43 will be aligned and the panel 34 will overlap the panel 36, as may be seen in FIG. 3, to form the inner surface of the support member 16 with apertures 41 and 44 in registration. The registering apertures 41 and 44 accommodate the end of the beam 24, and flap 18, folded along the score line 48 as shown in FIG. 2, overlies the upper edge of the cutout portion 39 in the blank (FIG. 3). With the blank folded upon itself as described, the slot 32 registers with the slot 31 and the wedgeshaped aperture thus formed in the overlapping panels 34 and 36 accommodate the tab portion 27c of the skeg support member 27.

Within the space between the panel 33 and the overlapping panel 34 and 36, formed when the side support member has been folded as shown in FIGS. 1-4, there is disposed a transverse reinforcing element indicated generally at 51 in FIG. 7. The reinforcing member 51 is formed of stacked and glued corrugated board pieces cut from a generally rectangular blank such as shown in FIG. 5. As there indicated, two of the laminations may be cut from a single blank and the ends of each of the laminations are provided with extending tab portions 52 which, in the assembled member 51, are accommodated in the apertures 42 and 43 (FIG. 6) in the blank from which the side support members are formed. The tabs 52 at one end of the reinforcing members 51 are visible in FIG. 4. As may best be seen in FIG. 8, a reinforcing member 51 spans the width of the folded support member. As will be evident from FIG. 5, each of the laminations forming the reinforcing members 51 are provided with a T-shaped aperture 53. The horizontal portion of the T-shaped apertures, after assembly of the laminations, accommodates a wood block 54 (FIG. 8) and this block provides a hardened bearing surface at the base of the vertical leg portion of the aperture 53. This vertical leg portion of the aperture 53 registers with the apertures 41 and 44 in the overlapping panels 34 and 36. These registering apertures receive the end portions of the beam 24, previously mentioned with regard to FIG. 4. The beam 24, to which the motor clamp is attached supports the major portion of the motor weight and the block insert 54 in the reinforcing members 51 is engaged by and supports the ends of the beam 24 when assembly of the container is complete.

In production use of the container assembly, as the marine motor reaches the terminus of the production line, the motor clamp is attached to the beam 24, the side support members 14 and 16 are put in place at the ends of the beam and the skeg support 27 is inserted between the side supports 14 and 16 and into proper relation with the motor skeg portion 23. The flaps 18 and 19 are folded downwardly as shown in FIG. 2 and the auxiliary parts container 17 is positioned so as to rest upon the flaps 18 and 19 The structure thus described is then lowered into the outer container and the upper flaps a, 11a, 12a and 130 (FIG. 1) are closed to complete the operation.

I claim:

1. A container assembly for supporting an outboard marine motor in vertical position with the propeller at the top of the container assembly and the body of the engine at the container assembly base, said assembly comprising a rectangular outer container, side support members adapted to completely overlie two opposite interior sidewall faces of the outer container, each of said side support members being formed by folding a sheet of corrugated board upon itself to provide spaced outer and inner surfaces with the outer surface contiguous with the inner face of the adjacent interior sidewall face of the outer container, the spacing between said outer and inner surfaces of each support member being maintained by a transverse reinforcing element spanning the width of the support member, the support members and the reinforcing elements having registering apertures accommodating an engine clamp receiving beam which extends horizontally between the opposed side support members, and a skeg support member extending between said opposed side support members adjacent the upper end of the outer container and adapted to accommodate and support the skeg portion of the marine motor supported in the container assembly.

2. A container assembly as claimed in claim 1 in which each of said reinforcing elements is provided with a wood insert at the base of the beam-accommodating apertures to thereby provide a hard bearing surface for the beam.

3. A container assembly as claimed in claim 1 in which portions of the facing inner surfaces of said side support members are folded toward each other into generally overlying relation to the upper surface of said beam to provide a support surface for an auxiliary container within the outer container.

4. A container as claimed in claim 1 in which said skeg support member is formed by folding a sheet of corrugated board upon itself to provide a wedge-shaped cross section for the support member with the narrow side marginal portion accommodating the skeg portion of the marine motor and the wide marginal portion abutting the adjacent outer container end wall. 

1. A container assembly for supporting an outboard marine motor in vertical position with the propeller at the top of the container assembly and the body of the engine at the container assembly base, said assembly comprising a rectangular outer container, side support members adapted to completely overlie two opposite interior sidewall faces of the outer container, each of said side support members being formed by folding a sheet of corrugated board upon itself to provide spaced outer and inner surfaces with the outer surface contiguous with the inner face of the adjacent interior sidewall face of the outer container, the spacing between said outer and inner surfaces of each support member being maintained by a transverse reinforcing element spanning the width of the support member, the support members and the reinforcing elements having registering apertures accommodating an engine clamp receiving beam which extends horizontally between the opposed side support members, and a skeg support member extending between said opposed side support members adjacent the upper end of the outer container and adapted to accommodate and support the skeg portion of the marine motor supported in the container assembly.
 2. A container assembly as claimed in claim 1 in which each of said reinforcing elements is provided with a wood insert at the base of the beam-accommodating apertures to thereby provide a hard bearing surface for the beam.
 3. A container assembly as claimed in claim 1 in which portions of the facing inner surfaces of said side support members are folded toward each other into generally overlying relation to the upper surface of said beam to provide a support surface for an auxiliary container within the outer container.
 4. A container as claimed in claim 1 in which said skeg support member is formed by folding a sheet of corrugated board upon itself to provide a wedge-shaped cross section for the support member with the narrow side marginal portion accommodating the skeg portion of the marine motor and the wide marginal portion abutting the adjacent outer container end wall. 